The Artistic Expression of Cursive Handwriting – A Priceless Piece of Evolution

So for those who take the leap and delve into their artistic expression (reference last week’s pattisays…) – those who DO IT instead of critiquing “I could do that” –  are exploring vast depths of their awareness, sensitivity, and personal signature through a piece of art. But that same freedom of expression has been cultivated in society beginning with scribbles,  and the fundamentals of handwriting. From scribbles, scribble to basic block alphabetic B_after to the loop de loops of beginning cursive, ejercicio-preparatorio-2-federico-leon-de-la-vegathe lessons encourage and open doors to very personal and individualistic communication.

Most of us are all painfully aware that cursive is no longer taught in many schools. We are so seduced by technology that we are not selective about  what to save and what to advance beyond in this evolution. This conscious evolution may have a devastatingly regressive cost.

What is the danger?

The classic final question and answer in Beauty Pagents is something like “What is your wish for the world?” or  “What is the most critical issue facing  the world today?” Some might say “Global warming.” The truthful seemingly naive response we have heard for decades is “World Peace” or parodied version “Whirled Peas.” All kidding aside, this certainly is an important and noble quest – the root of which in today’s technology is “Nuclear War.” Yes, if we have nuclear wall everything else is moot. Education, clean air and water, whirled peas, nada. Well, shy nuclear war, another great issue facing our world today is the loss of the brain to hand expression via tool we take so for granted, handwriting.

Handwriting is a tool, yes. A tool to communicate private notes, grocery lists, love letters, instructions to the sitter and thank you notes for deeds so appreciated. Not to mention rough drafts for non-digital scratchings of the most intimate and possibly important historical communications on the planet.  A good friend is examining this troubling fact through his own artistic expression. Please visit the video Mind Your Calligraphy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mO7ctV05Js where Federico Leon de la Vega

explores the neurological results of this modern-day tragedy that has the potential to change civilization as we know it. Not to mention loss of certain very specific brain functions of human evolution!

The artist must train not only his eye, but his soul. Wassily Kandinsky

Without the basic form of  flowing handwriting – the motion with an ease of fluid, natural motion to convey one’s thoughts, ideas, emotions, needs, and desires, we erase a portion of the brain’s function. We erase the personal expression offered  and made available by the human connection between our thoughts and our hands – our tools. The control our hands to artistically pen calligraphy – unique to each individual  – is a priceless piece of evolution.

Returning to the artistic expression…Plein air painting and field studies for scientific research might be the last vestiges of our need to communicate and connect through nature. If not free from technology,  perhaps in concert with the tools of technology. Taking a digital camera, phone or tablet into the field while painting on-site or using the technology to process what is discovered and/or captured in the scientific field studies might be those last vestiges.

We know why, so let’s think about what influence we might have to continue the art of cursive. How to perpetuate the evolution of that which is oh so personal a form of expression and that has such a powerfully effective and essential connection to our brains.

Like Kandinsky observed – it is the soul of a person that is expressed through artistic media. And there is nothing more intimate than the seemingly simple connection through individualistically personal script. f4426e761a5ab09c179a23e22301df58-1000

 

 

E-design…Is It for YOU?

An article from the Washington Post came across my desk a couple of weeks ago by Bonnie McCarthy “E-decorators” draw cost-conscious clients. In this article she identifies what she calls the “modern trappings of online interior designers – designers who by her estimation are “renovating the process of how style comes home.” 20160416_103139_resized

In this writing she interviews interior designers about their various methods of providing services to their clients and certainly the newer way is more virtual than hands-on in-person. But think about it – designers have always had to deal with virtual conditions. Working from plans is just that!

With the new generation of consumers – millennials and those to follow –  computers are an appendage. Everything is referenced or accessed via a computer, tablet or smart phone. So it’s natural for them to utilize these tools for design inspiration or consultation. The article however is noting this new approach for everyone who expects a designer to be an expensive on-site investment.

Throughout the article it references the “new” e-design approach as a now more cost-effective, affordable exchange with interior designers. I think that sounds like a gimmick. The time spent is the time spent – the ideas provided are just that and the fees are the fees. Now, if these e-designers or unlicensed decorators are lowering their fees – well then that’s part of the story. However, I do not get the feeling that they are. Rather, I get the feeling that they are merely marketing to a broader audience than those found in their immediate physical locations. Smart. There’s another part of the story. Selling the idea that this is cost-effective over having to meet live with a designer and thereby getting those customers and also broadening the reach to those potential clients is a gimmick that seems to be working.

The fact that the article suggests that this new “e-design” consultation is more cost-effective than live and in-person versions of the same is interesting. Maybe it is – maybe not. It would save transportation time for the designer and they might pass that savings on to their clients – or they might just have higher fees and more profit for their time involved. Difficult to know – hourly consultation rates vary according to location and market price.

For the designers or firms that have established a formula and template for their clients, this seems fairly efficient. On-line information forms quiz clients on their likes and dislikes, personality and requirements. However,this can also be can occur on a local level at the outset of an in-person consultation. The combination of digital communication and in-person, on-site design consults might just be the best process. A client’s form might even be filled out in advance of the first meeting via email to give the designer an intro to the project. Digital images of the space in question can be uploaded for the designer to review, evaluate, and critique. What once was the method of clients snipping magazine articles and photos for review and discussion, sites like Pinterest allow for a place where designer and client can “pin” their ideas for visual communication and discussion.

So is it the cost? Is it the seeming efficiency? Is it the working at your own convenience after hours? What makes the e-design attractive? Why is it better than having a designer come to your residence and discuss on-site with images and tangible samples what you want and the designer recommends?

Tangible samples…I don’t even like or trust what I see on-line regarding fabrics and carpets – anything textile for sure is impossible on a monitor. Tangible samples that you can touch and feel, press and fold, rub and caress are invaluable features of the selection process. Therefore, the sensory deprivation of e-design is one negative. Yes, samples can be mailed – but there is a lag-time there too.

The myriad choices made available online now for home decor shopping has opened up the entire world of possibilities for the consumer. But that same client exposed to these limitless wonders of the world cannot cull their finds with confidence to bring together a cohesive design. In this design process, some things have to be forfeited and others embraced and incorporated. It’s all about making the right decisions. The designer aids in and facilitates making those right decisions and bringing in even more ideas to the project with their expertise and experience.

With thorough websites, designers can present their work and potential clients can research until they find one that they think meets their expectations. Once that has been established, the client can even interview a few designers to make sure that the in-person chemistry is there between them. Or…there’s face-time!!

So back to the e-design. It’s not new – the methods are – but design across the miles has been going on for decades. Plans mailed, faxed and now digitally shot over the globe. Prior to a building being built – it is a virtual place designed diagrammatically, built in models, illustrated, and sketched – by hand or CAD it only exists in the mind’s eye of the designers and those to whom they are conveying these concepts. ILLUSTRATION RESI CROP P1030518  Selecting the interior furnishings and finishes for these edifices has always been similarly virtual. Until something is built and furnishing  installed, the designs are all “virtual.”

So “e-design” is on another plane of communication with the client with new tools to facilitate and communicate. But the advantages or lack thereof are many and seem to be more applicable to a client in a remote location without benefit of good local designers.

I knew an incredibly creative and adventurous couple who, back in the 60s and 70s, established a private resort on an island where everything was selected and obtained via mail-order catalogs, shipped across the water, received in docks, transported to local delivery vessels and dropped on a beach weeks later. Not so different today for those located far from the modern conveniences but connected now to the  world via the internet, fast jets of Federal Express, DHL, UPS and all the trucks, sea trains and land rails that move goods around the world. That’s when this instantaneous assistance for decision-making with a designer over the miles can be extremely advantageous – you have no other means of getting together and the framework is in place to do it all remotely.

So if you fancy the idea of having an LA designer consult for your condo in Dupont Circle or a Denver designer make their recommendations for you in Boston, so be it.  Yet, I say investigate your local interior designers, visit their websites, contact their references,  and see how their fees and talents compare between each other, and then compare to them to the e-offerings on-line and go with what works best for you!

 

Taking Pause to Value the Art of the Written Word

I awakened in the painter’s house with slivers of sunlight glistening through the bamboo shades, exotic chirping happily piercing the silence and cinnamon scenting the air from the open grill preparing the best French toast on the planet. P1110818

This place exudes thoughtful reflection and invites savoring the simple things of beauty and  meaning. P1110821

From intense and intimate conversations centering around the passions of life to convivial arguments and relaxed exchanges, those gathered at the estudio-café tables examine the events of the world from their own individual vantage points. P1110829Today the primary focus was a topic with which everyone seemed to view from the same perspective. All were in avid agreement as they discussed the recent exhibit in Mexico City from where the artist, Leon de la Vega, has recentlyjust returned. This significant event was an important auction where part of the proceeds were to benefit the Mexican Institute of Neonatology toward research on children’s learning and therapy and no less to benefit the artist expressing his concerns for the current state of affairs with the lost art of writing by hand. Federico's invitation P1110815

With the advancement of smart technology comes the dumbing of the people tethered to it.  Everyone…all of us…are victims and if we are to save the core of our humanity we must preserve our handmade, organic, communications. We have computer aided drafting and graphic programs, texting and video all of which negate the tactile, made-by-hand written or drawn creations of the human touch. To have a computer consistently come between the hand of man and his end results is a gap that will never be regained once lost.  Recovering this lost art, in so many forms, is critical to mankind. This all sounds pretty heady. But once you enter these spirited conversations you realize that the demise of past civilizations is not unlike this self-destructive path to which  we now bear witness. The beautifully insightful, well-crafted video in Spanish introduces Leon de la Vega’s collection and explains these observations which are universally recognized by those who are interested in taking pause to realize what is happening around us. You won’t need a translator.

In response to these observations, as the video explains, Leon de la Vega has embarked on an exploration of  communications by hand, incorporating them into sculpture, stylized images and abstracted interpretations. writing series P1110818

He is inserting into and embellishing on his artistic expressions in the form of calligraphy—which in its finest examples— has proven to be both art and literal communication through the ages. P1110838

But if one examines the very personal and expressive beauty of fine penmanship,  we realize that our schools are not even teaching basic cursive  to our children. Our schools are forced to chose between computer classes, music, art and even the basic direction to form the written word.  The  collection was very well received in Mexico City last month and a second exciting and thought-provoking exhibition/auction of work will take place in early February, also in Mexico City.